Amazon has been trying to enter the gaming industry for years, but despite using the vast resources at its disposal to hire some of the best designers in the business, the company struggled for years to advance. Lately, however, Amazon has had success publishing massively multiplayer online games. First came 2021’s New World, Amazon Games’ homebrew fantasy with an emphasis on survival and player-built settlements. The following year came Lost Ark, developed by Korean studio SmileGate, which combined large-scale multiplayer with Diablo-style combat. Critical reception was mixed, but both games proved popular with players. This week, Amazon publishes its third MMO in four years, Throne and Liberty, also developed in Korea. Here’s everything you need to know about this latest free offer.
What is Throne and Freedom?
It is a massively multiplayer online game in the style of World of Warcraft. Set in a large, richly painted fantasy world, it sees players create their own character and embark on a series of adventures, playing alone, with friends or as part of a larger guild. Players can follow the main story, cooperate with friends to fight in dungeons, or battle rival players to claim ownership of the game’s regions.
Throne and Liberty stands out for its long gestation period. It was originally announced in 2011 as an extension to the Lineage role-playing game series, under the name Lineage Eternal. After a turbulent development that saw multiple delays, a technology overhaul, and a leadership change, Throne and Liberty launched in Korea last December. Amazon is the global publisher of the game and acquired the rights in February of last year.
How is Throne and Liberty different from other MMOs?
There are a couple of features that give Throne and Liberty its own flavor. The most obvious of these is the ability to “transform” into different animals. Instead of running to travel the world faster, players can transform into a fast land animal like a wolf, jump off cliffs and “glide” across the landscape like a bird, or become a cute otter carrying a leaf like hat (or other aquatic animal) if they go into deep water.
It’s a fun trick, but not that deep. Throne and Liberty’s combat and character development are more notable. Unlike most MMOs, there are no specific character classes. Instead, your character’s skills and abilities are defined by the weapons they wield.
There are six types of weapons to choose from, each of which comes with abilities. Since players can equip two weapons at any time, you can synthesize your own class. I spent most of my time wielding a sword and shield that allowed me to push back enemies, and a magic staff that allowed me to throw fireballs and summon lightning from the sky.
Are throne and freedom good?
Some parts are. The world is fun to explore, thanks to those Animorph-style powers, and in part because of the impressive environment design. And while the combat is traditional for an MMO (for example, characters automatically attack while the player activates special abilities), the fights are fast and surprisingly muscular, with flashy, tangible character powers. One of the most interesting aspects of combat is dodging and parrying, allowing you to block, avoid, and deflect attacks. It adds an extra layer of reactivity to battles, an interesting hybrid of classic MMO combat and more modern action-oriented gameplay.
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Outside of this, though, much of what Throne and Liberty does is familiar, sometimes to the point of being trite. Although its fantasy world has some stranger aspects, such as the giant whale floating in the sky, it is largely a traditional hodgepodge of wizards, warriors, orcs, and goblins. The narrative is basic, the characters are shallow, and the missions mostly involve pressing “F” on a lot of different items, with few meaningful interactions outside of combat. Finally, as is common in many free online games, the crafting and upgrading systems are unnecessarily complicated, and upgrading your weapons and armor can be tedious and confusing.
Should I play Throne and Freedom?
Throne and Liberty is a free-to-play game, and while it doesn’t break many new ground, there’s enough basic quality to its world and combat to make it moderately fun. And what it lacks in depth it makes up for in pace, so you don’t need to spend dozens of hours to see a good portion of the world.
That said, if you only have time to play one Korean MMO published by Amazon, I would recommend Lost Ark instead of Throne of Liberty. While Throne and Liberty’s combat may be spectacular, Lost Ark’s takedowns are truly off the charts, starting with god-like power and building from there. Likewise, its story takes wilder turns than Throne and Liberty: its adventure transports you to an island populated by Borrower-like goblins and pits you against an army of demonic clowns. It’s structurally and thematically similar, but offers a bolder, stranger experience throughout. And like Throne and Liberty, it’s free to play.